Xbox Lowers Game Pass Ultimate Price, Call of Duty Games Now Post-Launch
Microsoft adjusts Game Pass pricing and release strategy by lowering Game Pass Ultimate and PC Game Pass Prices and removing Call of Duty games from launch-date additions into the catalog.
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New Xbox CEO is Behind Changes
Microsoft has announced a notable update to Xbox Game Pass, lowering subscription prices while simultaneously changing how one of its biggest franchises will be integrated into the service.
Starting immediately, Microsoft is reducing the price of its top-tier subscription. Xbox Game Pass Ultimate drops from $29.99 to $22.99 per month, while PC Game Pass decreases from $16.49 to $13.99.
Just last year, Xbox raised the prices, but the new CEO of Xbox, Asha Sharma, is making sweeping changes very quickly.
At the same time, the company is making a significant change to how major first-party releases, specifically Call of Duty, will be handled moving forward. Future entries in the franchise will no longer launch day one on Game Pass Ultimate or PC Game Pass. Instead, new titles will arrive on the service roughly a year later, during the following holiday season.
This is likely to counteract the lower price point, but will also likely result in a lot of subscribers canceling their subscriptions if Call of Duty was a big initial draw of the service.
Existing Call of Duty titles already included in the library will remain available, ensuring continuity for current subscribers.
From a development and publishing standpoint, this adjustment may point to a more hybrid strategy going forward. Subscription models can drive reach and engagement, but major releases still rely heavily on traditional sales windows to recoup production costs, especially as budgets continue to rise.
The pricing reduction and release delay together suggest Microsoft is attempting to rebalance that equation. Lowering the barrier to entry keeps the ecosystem attractive to players, while holding back select premium launches preserves revenue opportunities at launch.
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